Drawing on 19th-century photo techniques, Izu's still lifes and portraits are poised between lustrous sensuality and austere grandeur

When Kenro Izu is taking photographs, he finds himself constantly challenged by a seductive voice urging him to make a “nice picture.” And Izu’s photographs are gorgeous — the artist, inspired by 19th-century photography methods, has been working with a large-format camera since 1983, making detailed, lustrous contact prints on hand-coated platinum palladium paper. A master technician, Izu is considered one of the greatest living platinum printers. But taking “nice pictures” is not what Izu sets out to do.

The photographer aims instead to capture something of the spirit or inner life of his chosen subject — whether it be a still life or an ancient, sacred monument. Izu describes this tension between capturing the essence and beauty of the subject as an “effort to hold myself at the very edge (before falling into the dark hole of seduction).”

Kenro Izu: Seduction presents the results of these efforts: photographs by Izu of fruits, plants and human figures, all made with a large-format film camera and contact printed in platinum from 8x10 to 14x20-inch negatives.

Japanese-born, US-based photographer Kenro Izu (born 1949) studied at Nippon University in Tokyo before deciding to settle in New York. In 1979 he began what has become a lifelong project, traveling to photograph the world’s sacred places. His journeys to Angkor Wat led him to establish a free pediatric hospital in Cambodia and found Friends Without a Border, a nonprofit organization to help Asian children.